WOODLAND, Calif. (CN) — Admitting that he fatally stabbed two people and injured a third in a series of attacks at the University of California, Davis, Carlos Dominguez apologized in court on Tuesday and said he was guilty.
The 21-year-old announced his confession at a hearing in Yolo County Superior Court where attorneys were scheduled to receive a report about the suspect's mental competency. That report, as summarized Tuesday by Judge Samuel McAdam, says Dominguez is not competent.
Dominguez addressed the courtroom moments later. “Your honor, I want to apologize and I want to say I’m guilty,” he said.
A former UC Davis student, Dominguez was arrested last month after a trio of stabbings shocked the city of Davis, about 15 miles west of Sacramento. More than 13,000 students live on the campus of UC Davis, where Dominguez was once a student.
At the time. Dominguez was carrying a hunting-style knife with a large fixed blade and wearing clothes that were similar to what witnesses said the suspect was wearing during the third stabbing.
Because criminal proceedings in the case have been suspended over the issue of Dominguez's competency, Judge McAdam emphasized Tuesday that nothing he said could be used to convict him.
Dominguez’s deputy public defender Daniel Hutchinson stepped outside the courtroom with his client for about five minutes after the confession outburst.
Deputy District Attorney Matt DeMoura requested a jury trial on the issue of Dominguez’s competency, which Dominguez's defense opposes. Hutchinson noted that he’s seen such a trial only once in 17 years of practicing law in Yolo County.
Judge McAdam said the prosecution has a right to a trial by jury. He instructed the parties to gather first on July 12. After this hearing on subpoenas and discovery issues, they will reconvene on July 19 to determine if they are ready for the competency trial scheduled to start July 24.
“I think July 24th is quick,” McAdam added. “It’s a quick timeline. If one party wants a jury trial, that’s where we’re at.”
The judge concluded Tuesday’s hearing by handing over certain medical documents to the prosecutor, emphasizing that the records are confidential.
Dominguez, wearing a green covering and chained at the waist, was then escorted from the courtroom. He is being held without bond, having pleaded not guilty to the murders of David Henry Breaux, 50, and Karim Abou Najm, 20. Dominguez also faces an attempted murder charge in connection to a woman in her 60s who was stabbed multiple times on May 1 in an encampent.
Kimberlee Guillory survived the stabbing and called 911, leading to a manhunt that resulted in Dominguez's arrest on May 3.
The first of the stabbing murders tied to Dominguez is that of Najm, whose body was discovered in Sycamore Park on April 29. Najm was a senior at UC Davis and a Davis High School graduate.
Breux's body was found in late April hunched over a bench in the downtown's Central Park. A well-known fixture of the Davis community, Breaux was an author and creator of the city’s “Compassion Bench” in 2013.
UC Davis officials have said in a statement that Dominguez was a third-year student majoring in biological sciences until April 25 “when he was separated for academic reasons.”
Fifteen people contacted authorities about someone matching Dominguez's description near a downtown park. At the time, Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel called the stabbings the work of a serial killer.
Police in a statement said significant and related evidence had been found during the execution of a search warrant.
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